Forget the body lift - like anything it CAN be done, if you throw enough money and time at it, but you have correctly pointed out the problems. You have several realistic options.

1. Replace your sagged springs with new ones, replacing the worn out bushes at the same time - it is likely that this will raise it a surprising amount, depending on how bad the current springs are.

2. Fit parabolic springs. This will cost a little more than (1) but will raise it around 40mm above standard and greatly improve ride and articulation. Needs recommended shocks.

3. Fit military shackles. Strictly these should be accompanied with raised spring hangers, but a number of people have got away with them by themselves. The simplest and cheapest but upsets the castor angle at the front and the prop shaft U-joint angles front and rear.

4. Go to spring over axle. This involves very substantial modifications, and is unlikely to be approved by any engineer, as it involves serious problems with steering linkage and prop shaft angles, quite apart from stability questions.

Note that some states have a blanket ban on any lift over 50mm regardless of engineering approval, and even this much will involve modifications to the flywheel cross member to clear the prop shaft, at least on the four cylinder version.

As far as later spring fits go, Series 3 springs fit, as will some Series 1, but while the specifications differ for different models, they are all very similar height. I would suggest you look at (2)

Hi Mazza
Ive been there done that and now have an unregisterable Ser3 109 in my shed.
Ive lifted the body 4 inchs,via a rear sub chassis,extended bulkhead mounts and front mounts.
Ive also done the military dumb iron conversion on the front and fitted military hangers all round.
The engineer was real impressed with my work,in his words,one of the best 4WD mods he has seen.But doubted that it would pass the WA regs despite the transport dudes telling me I could lift it as much as I wanted as long as it was safe and engineered.
They just didnt tell me what I needed to do to rego,a lane change test,which basically involves testing the vehicle to roll over risk,all by proffesionals you hire,including the race track,expect to pay up to $10000 for a faliure I was told!!!!
Andrew

Hi Mazza
Ive been there done that and now have an unregisterable Ser3 109 in my shed.
Ive lifted the body 4 inchs,via a rear sub chassis,extended bulkhead mounts and front mounts.
Ive also done the military dumb iron conversion on the front and fitted military hangers all round.
The engineer was real impressed with my work,in his words,one of the best 4WD mods he has seen.But doubted that it would pass the WA regs despite the transport dudes telling me I could lift it as much as I wanted as long as it was safe and engineered.
They just didnt tell me what I needed to do to rego,a lane change test,which basically involves testing the vehicle to roll over risk,all by proffesionals you hire,including the race track,expect to pay up to $10000 for a faliure I was told!!!!
Andrew

my stability test was included in the engineers price,
and was done in a local carpark on sunday.

i was thinkin maybe troopy leafs or maybe some 60series leafs might fit..

I can see little reason for fitting springs off another type of vehicle, unless they happened to fit and were cheap. Even if they fit they are unlikely to be suited to the vehicle. Any supplier of Landrover parts or any spring specialist will give information about parabolic springs.
Basically these are an improvement on conventional leaf springs by having a lot fewer (usually 2 or 3) spring leaves, but instead of being the same thickness all over they taper and are arranged so they only touch at the ends, giving a lot less friction. This means they deflect further for the same bump, and to allow for this they are usually set higher, giving you a "free" lift.

hey i have a LWB SII ute and its sitting low as so im wanting to lift it a bit my option are..

1. body lift.
2. shackle lift
3. spring over.
4. suspension lift

now the issues...

1. i think its fairly hard to do a body lift concidering the panels are seprate and its not like later model cars where you would just put blocks in

2. it will only gain me an inch or so

3. you would need to do alot of wqork to the steering and i think you need a engineers cert..

4. this seems to be the option although i doubt you would be able to get 2'' spring lift for these babys.. so does anyone know of any later model springs that will fit her??

Strange but I was just thinking of lift kits this morning. It seems that most threads here relate to Discovery vehicles. From that I guess that Defenders and series vehicles perform well without lifting.

Personally I have owned a series 2A, 3, Defender and now a D2. I would have never needed a lift kit on any of my vehicles. They performed well and if it got that rough that I did not have enough clearance I would call it quits and go another way.

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